Rise From Ashes
by Mana2
Summary: "thirst for glory quells the love of life" [Addison]. Could the stranger possible be their only hope?


Disclaimer: * **Arhmem** * I don`t own the characters, if I did I would be a happy rich (bastard) living in a castle, and have people writing fan fiction for me. If you decide to sue….I think there is a half eaten chocolate under my bed you can have.

**Chapter I. Thief in the Night.** Who said crime doesn't pay 

` Careful…careful` the voice inside her whispered. She let her fingers wipe over the blank surface and then looked up the wall. The building seemed to soar to towards the sky, never ending. She let her breath escape her mouth and let new one fill her lounges trough her nose.

`You can do it, you have done it a hundred times before` she coached her self and put on her gloves. She looked around one last time, just to make sure she was alone. Then she started to long climb up the wall.

Her hands searched for an out spring she could grip around, grabbed it and then lifted her body up slowly. She felt her muscles tense, but then relax she was in great shape. Her foot searched around for a place to rest and when she found it she stopped for a moment and looked up again. Still some to go. She gritted her teeth and started the climb again, she knew she was desperate, but then again desperate times called for desperate matters.

Finally she reached the window and she breathed in relief, now it was the easy part. She searched for the small bag that hung around her belt, opened it and took out the glasscutter. She gripped the cutter with her teeth and then roamed around for the small rubber thing she had picked up yesterday. This had been planned for some time.

She placed it on the glass and looked in, just to make sure there was nobody in the room. She took the cutter in one hand, and gripped the wall with all her might with the other, relaxing on the window still. Slowly she cut trough the glass. She removed the cutter and then gently tried to lift the plastic knob out.

`Damn!` she cussed when the out cut glass didn`t follow as she had planned. For a moment she was on the verge of panic and was about to get the hell out of there, when she decided to try again. No use, and she chided her self for not checking for the standard information. `Take your time` a voice inside her told her, and she nodded slowly and took another deep breath. `I will manage this, the others can, so can I !`

Quistise let a hand comb trough her hair while she read trough the report. Another break in, it was the fifth this week and it wasn`t even Friday. She sighed heavily and leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms behind her head and stared up in the roof.  It was just simple things that had been stolen, food, money and even clothes.  It was the same pattern each time, cut trough the window, and not a fingerprint or footprint. The thief had to be professional, or insane. All the windows where the ones highest on the wall, and they could just as easily have entered trough another window or the door for that matter.

She read trough the report one more time. The Board wanted an investigation and the thief caught ASAP. She had tried to explain that this was matter better left to the police, that the SeeD where not trained to dust for fingerprints, but they had stubbornly refused to listened and now the problem was in her hands.

She leaned over the large oak desk and pressed her finger on the calling button, after what seemed forever she could hear her secretary's voice answer.  "Could you send up Squall?" she asked and the secretary replied that she would get on it as soon as she was finished with her work…or rather polish her nails. She had some resents about sending Squall out to do this, but figured he was the best man to the job. He was the only one she knew who didn`t burst in and hit the first and best thing he saw.

            "There he is! Squall!" he turned around to see Selphie running towards him followed by Zell. He sighed knowing that something was up, and whatever it was it involved trouble one way or another.  "Squall, we have a great idea!" Zell started, but Squall quickly hushed him down with his looks and said quickly.

"Quistise has a mission for us" he had expected Zell to leap in the air with joy, they had been sulking around in the school for months now, just waiting for something to happen. Instead the hand he had so eagerly lifted when he saw Squall sank to his side and he said almost sadly. "A mission, bummer!" "What mission?" Selphie asked, Squall scratched the bridge of his noose and opened the file.

"We get to play investigators, " he said. Some sparks of joy returned to Zells eyes, although he though his idea was much better. "What are you talking about" he said. "You know all the break-ins lately?" they both nodded, just a couple of days ago Zells mother had been one of the victims.

Finally she decided to use the good old fashion way, she banged her fist right trough her glass.  Surprisingly it made almost no sound, but the glass cut straight trough her gloves and she felt blood prickle down her palm. She ignored the stabbing pain and the blood and then slipped trough the window, again cutting her self on the arms.

`Shit` she saw that her shirt had gotten a deep scratch in it `and I stole that yesterday` she mused. Her eyes started to adjust to the darkness and she saw the outline of an empty bed, a desk and two doors. She knew one of them led to the bathroom, the other to the corridors.

She could hear people talk from the corridor, and she froze afraid somebody would storm in the door and bust her.

But one thing had she done right this time, she knew everybody was one some stupid dance.

She started to roam around in the room, the drawers at the desk held nothing of value. She opened the cupboard and whistled slowly.

A long silver sword was hung at the inner wall of the closet and she saw several uniforms and clothes. `Boys clothes` she mused and let her hand run over a long white trench coat that would have looked great on her. She continued her search and soon found a small blue box, the one you locked valuables inn. Grinning in the darkness she took out a hairpin and after a few minutes heard a little click from the keyhole.

`Who said crime doesn't pay` she though happily and bit her lower lip feeling adrenaline start to run trough her. She filled her pockets with money and felt that the night hadn't been a total waste.  She heard more voices from the corridor and froze, it had been to close and she knew she had to get out of there.

She spun around and looked one last time around in the room, and then decided to skip it.  Suddenly the light was turned on and the bright light made her squirm. "What the hell is going one?" an angry voice demanded, she decided not to hang around to explain her self and then dashed for the window.

"Stop!" he shouted and she was just about to jump out when he grabbed her arm. "What the hell…." He gasped as she burned him with her eyes, not knowing why he let her go; or rather he pushed her away from his body and towards the door.  She opened and ran straight out into the hallway, she looked left then right, not seeing anybody either way she started to run.

"What's the rush?"

"Where is the fire"?

"What is going on?"

People shouted as she ran past them steering away confused SeeD and students `This has gone to shit` her mind screamed and she started to look around for an exit feeling like a chicken running around with out a head.  The first rule of break inns, were to never leave trough the front door, and never let anybody see her. She wondered what they would do when they found out she had broke both of them, big time. "Stop the thief" she turned around, and so did everybody else and stared at the boy who had surprised her.  "Thief?" somebody asked and then everybody noticed the dark dressed and hooded figure standing in the middle of the school corridor.

"I'd love to stay and chat, but I got to dash" she said and made an elegant bow while she slipped a small smoke bomb on the floor. The students saw the small canister rolling on the floor, but this wasn`t a normal school and they were prepared for something like this. She watched half in shock as one grabbed a dustbin, and another scooped the bomb up with his hands.

`Shit` she cussed, and then decided to trust her legs. She started to run again, but now she had the whole second grade after her. They started to shout again, and now she had to push people to get trough the corridor, all the while she wondered where exactly she was going to go. She had never planned on escaping trough the front door, but maybe that was her only option.

She saw a door colored green. `All the exit signs are green` her mind sang and the door hissed open.  She ran trough the corridor still hearing the other shout.  She stopped when she noticed where she was. She was clearly outside, trees and bushes surrounded her, but there was no fresh air.

The door hissed open and she heard somebody yell that they had her now, not as long as she still could run.  There were three ways to go, she randomly picked one and ran trough the door. She seemed to have lost the hunters and finally she got the chance to catch her breath. She leaned heavily against a tree and breathed slowly, maybe she wasn`t in such a great shape after all.

Suddenly she felt the ground start to shake and she looked at the small puddles, they had gotten rings in them. Before she even knew what was going one something huge, red and with its mouth full of deadly sharp teeth's stomped out trough the bushes. She gasped as the monster roared, making the ground shake. "Nice…. nice…little…little…something…" she muttered and started to slowly to back. The monster lowered its head and looked straight at her, she could feel its breath wash her face.  She sighed and knew that her life was over if a miracle didn`t happen. She should have listened to her brothers and stayed to breaking into normal houses…..they were less deadly.


End file.
